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BOOKS IN CAMP, TRENCH AND HOSPITAL

BY

THEODORE WESLEY KOCH



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PREFATORY NOTE

Most of the following articles were

written during my long stay in London,

and so bear the stamp of their English

origin. This explains why more was not

said in the section devoted to the Y. M.

C. A. about the work of the young men

sent out from America. A few anecdotes

and facts that have recently come to myattention are added here.

A German soldier and his son had come

all the way from Verdun to the Russian

front, where they were wounded and cap-

tured. They lay in adjoining beds in a

military hospital, and the Y. M. C. A. fur-

nished them with a copy of "Oliver Twist''

and a Russian grammar which they were

planning to study together. In the same

ward was a young Berlin professor who

had done research work in the British

Museum. He brooded a great deal over

his fate, but a gift of the "Christmas

Carol" and a Russian grammar changed

somewhat the tenor of his thought.

Count L , a prisoner in a Russian

camp, asked for a good American story,

and the secretary broughthim "BlackRock." The Count pronounced it to be one

of the best novels he had ever read, and

he asked the secretary to send him ten

others of the same kind from America

"after the war." The Y. M. C. A. manhaving occasion to go to Petrograd a few

days later, purchased these books by Ralph

Connor, Gene Stratton Porter, and Jack

London, and gave them to the Count. The

secretary says that no other volumes ever

received such joyful reading. Since thenthey have been presented to the prison li-

brary where they are in great demand.

Other books of the same class were latei

sent to the prison.

An American Y. M. C. A. secretary in

a Russian prison camp borrowed a Koran

and the other books needed by the Mo-hammedans for a service which he ar-

ranged for them.

A soldier wrote from the trenches to the

London Headquarters of the Y. M. C. A."We sit in our dug-outs and just think

I wonder if you could send some books

and magazines over here."

A man in Egypt, begging for magazines.

said that he didn't wonder that the children

of Israel grumbled when they went that

way!

A Y. M. C. A. worker in France writes:

"We never can secure enough reading mat-

ter to while away the hours in the long

French train journeys."

The magazines which the Y. M. C. A.

has been able to supply the troops have fre-

quently been cut into sections so as to

make them go around. Even the printed

wrapping paper in which parcels are sent

is smoothed out and read as literature.

If the Y. M. C. A. workers could get the

thousands of magazines and "seven pen-

nies" left lying about in clubs, railway

carriages, and private houses, it would en-

able battalions of men to forget for a few

moments the hardships, the risks, and the

monotony of active service. A "seven-

penny" book was given a soldier by a

Y. M. C. A. worker as he went by train

to the front line. It was read by every

man in the platoon. The man was wound-

ed and took the book to the hospital where

it was read by everyman

inthe ward.Now that he has regained possession of it,

he intends to keep it for the rest of his

life.

English booksellers report a famine of

sevenpenny and shilling books because ©f

the demand for them from the trenches.

Sev«n million copies are said to have been

sent to the front.

The Y. M. C. A. is trying to organize

a collection of books and magazines in

different districtsthroughout Great Britain

and is instituting Red Triangle Magazine

and Book Clubs which will collect and

forward a weekly or fortnightly supply to

the Library Department in London.

In five months the Red Triangle Library

has sent away 83,640 books and magazines

To Home Camps 26,750

To France 45,190To Overseas Bases 11,700

The Overseas Bases include Mesopotam-

ia, Egypt, Salonica, Nairobi, Malta andCalcutta.

Three thousand books and magazines

are sent to France every week, and each

district in France receives in regular rota-

368079



tion as many hako- as there y.re huts in

that district. The round has now been

made twice since the Library opened on

Feb. I2th, 1917. There is also a Library

Reserve at Abbeville for the supply of

particular or individual requests from hut-

leaders.

Mr. Oliver McCowen writes irom the

Y. M. C. A. Headquarters in France. "It

is a real pleasure now to go round our huts

and find quite respectable libraries in

process of formation. All our leaders

speak enthusiastically of the service you

are rendering."

A hut leader, also from France, reports

that the magazines and books are read in

the hut and taken to the men's quarters,

and afterwards passed all round the camp.

In isolation camps the books are described

as a Godsend.

Another letter of acknowledgment says

"the men hailed with delighted gratitude

this proof of the Y. M. C. A.'s interest and

sympathy—as soon as I undid the string I

had a crowd of men round me to see what

books I had got. I am most grateful for

so much up-to-date material."

"Since the war, the Association has

shown its youth, its manhood, and its

Christianity by rising to a great opportu-

nity, and there are literally millions of

young soldiers who will be eternally grate-

ful to it, not negatively for what it is not,

but positively for what it is and for what

it has done for them," says Geoffrey Gor-

don in "Papers from Picardy, by two

chaplains."

T. W. K.

M'^ashingtor, D. C,

September 14, 1917.



BOOKS IN CAMP, TRENCH AND HOSPITAL

By Theodore Wesley Koch, Chief of the Order Division, Library of Congress

Lord North cliffe in a message to Amer-

icans had some things to say as to what the

American soldiers would need in the wayof food and equipment if brought to France

or Belgium. "But your boy wants more

than these things," said he. "Has it ever

occurred to you that he must be amused?

He must have moving pictures, talking

machines, books, magazines, home news-

papers, each of them occupying valuable

tonnage and ships."

Books and magazines are being supplied

in great numbers to the British troops

thru four great agencies : (i) The Brit-

ish Red Cross and Order of St. John WarLibrary; (2) The Camps Library; (3) The

Young Men's Christian Association, and

(4) The British Prisoners of War Book

Scheme (Educational). In the following

paper an attempt is made to give a brief

history of each of these branches of a com-

mon work for the wholesome entertainment

and mental well-being of the troops, to

show how the field has been divided among

the different organizations, and to give evi-

dence of the splendid results accomplished.

The writer wishes to acknowledge his in-

debtedness to the promoters of the various

schemes for their kindness in furnishing

him with his source material, in allowing

him to draw freely on what they themselves

have written, in granting him interviews

and in reading over the account as here pre-

sented, thus giving it their imprimatur.

With this paper, I am sending tothe

Louisville meeting of the American Library

Association an exhibit made up of speci-

mens of the kind of books and magazines

which have proved most useful in entertain-

ing and instructing the men. A first glance

at this material may cause a shock to some

librarians with settled convictions on book

selection, but I would remind them that I

have not tried to collect specimens of the

standard authors sent out in large numbers

to the troops. I have contented myselfrather with the forwarding of literature of

known popularity with Tommy Atkins and

Jack Tar, but unknown to most Americans.

Let this last remark not be taken to refer to

the various parts of the Bible, the Prayer

Book and Hymnal, of which I have sent

numerous editions issued for the forces.

I hope that some organization will look

after the needs of American troops equally

well. No time should be lost in interesting

those who have the means, the leisure and

the executive ability to see that similar

work is started at once in the United States.

Co-operation or afifiliation with the British

organizations should be considered.

I. THE WAR LIBRARY

The night after war had been declared,

Mrs. H. M. Gaskell lay awake wondering

how she could best help in the coming

struggle. Recalling how much a certain

book she had read during a recent illness

had meant to her, she realized the value

of providing literature for the sick and

wounded. A few days later she dined with

some friends and talked over this opportu-

nity for service, with the result that Lady

Battersea decided to lend her splendid

mansion, Surrey House, Marble Arch, for

the work. Lord Haldane, who was War

Minister at the time, approved the plan

officially, and Sir Alfred Sloggett, then

head of the R. A. M. C, gave his official

sanction. The w^ork was no sooner under

way than the Admiralty asked whether the

new organization would be willing to sup-

ply the Navy, the sound men as well as the

sick. Mrs. Gaskell's brother, Mr. Beresford

Melville, entered into the work with en-

thusiasm and gave it financial support. The

call for books was the first appeal of the

War, and newspapers were glad to give

their space and support free to the letters

asking for reading matter for both the sick

and wounded. To the surprise of the or-

ganizers not only parcels and boxes, but

vanloads of books were delivered to Surrey

House. Hastily improvised book cases rose

quickly to the ceilings of the rooms on the

groundfloor, then

upthe wide stairway,

filling three immense rooms and crowding

the corridors. It was impossible for the

overworked volunteers to keep up with this

unexpected volume of gifts. Dr. C. T.



Hagberg Wright of the London Library

was appealed to and when he came to Sur-

rey House and saw the multitude of books,

he decided to call upon his assistants. With

five of his stafif he set to work. It was

necessary to hire empty wagons to stand at

the door for the refuse, of which there was

a huge quantity, for many people had seized

this as an opportunity to clean out their

rubbish piles and credit themselves with

doing a charitable turn at the same time.

Old parish magazines were sent in by tens

of thousands, only to be passed on to the

waiting wagons. To offset these, however,

there were over a million well selected

books, including rare editions of standard

authors. The latter were put to one side

for sale and the money thus received wasinvested in the kind of books most needed.

While one set of helpers was unpacking,

another was sending off carefully selected

boxes of books to small permanent libraries

in the Military and Naval Hospitals from

lists furnished by the Admiralty and WarOffice. The permanent hospitals were sup-

plied with a library before the wounded

arrived, and as the war area expanded the

War Library followed with literature. Ad-

vertisements were inserted in American andCanadian newspapers with the result that

many publishers sent most acceptable gifts

from across the water. Later, large con-

signments of literature came from South

Africa, Australia, Madeira, the Canary Isl-

ands and New Zealand. English publishers

were more than generous. One publisher

sent 600 beautifully printed copies of six of

the best novels in the English language,

bound in dark blue and red washable buck-

ram. The English and Foreign Bible So-

ciety has given eighty thousand copies of

little khaki covered Gospels, printed on thin

paper with the Red Cross or the Union

Jack decorating the cover.

In November, 1914, the Admiralty asked

the War Library organization to supply the

sailors in the North Sea Fleet at the rate

of a book a man. Not only was this done,

but boxes of books were sent to all the

guards around the coasts of the British

Isles, the Shetland and Orkney Isles, and

the West Coast of Ireland. When the

Camps Library was organized by Sir Ed-

ward Ward and the Hon. Mrs. Anstruther,

for the strong and healthy soldiers in camps

and trenches, the originators of the WarLibrary met with the promoters of the new

scheme and discussed a division of labor.

The field of work was increasing to such an

extent that it was agreed that the WarLibrary should look after the "unfit" in the

Army and Navy, while the new organiza-

tion would take care of the "fit." This

plan has worked very well, but alas ! as

Mrs. Gaskell reports, "as the wide-flung

battle-field extended, the supply of books

dwindled. We were in despair. The

papers, filled with other appeals, could only

insert ours by payment, and money, too,

had become very scarce. Meanwhile, hos-

pitals in France doubled. Sick in Lemnos,

Malta, Gallipoli, Egypt, grew in numbersto an alarming extent ; books were asked

for, cabled for, demanded, implored. Our

hearts were indeed heavy laden." Relief

came thru the action of Mr. Herbert Sam-

uel, then Postmaster General, who, after

paying a visit to the camps and seeing life

in the trenches, decided that the Post Of-

fice should help in the work of forwarding

reading material for the men. Then the

Red Cross and Order of St. John was

asked to affiliate the War Library schemewith its organization. In October, 1915,

it not only agreed to do this but became

financially responsible for the undertaking,

the promoters of the latter promising in re-

turn to supply the literature that they and

their hospitals require—which means con-

siderably over 200,000 books and magazines

a year.

When the beds at Gallipoli were being

rapidly filled with the sick and wounded, a

cable would come to Surrey House: "Send25,000 books at once, light and good print."'

Perhaps the day before Malta had cabled

for 10,000 similar books. The demand

seemed to grow by leaps and bounds. No

hospital at home or abroad asks without

receiving the full quota requested. The li-

brary is now supplying East Africa, Bom-

bay. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonika and

Malta monthly with thousands of books and

magazines. Fortnightly parcels go to the

hospitals in France and to the Cross Chan-

nel Hospital Service. To-day the organiza-

tion is supplying approximately 1810 hos-

pitals in Great Britain, 262 in France, 58



naval hospitals and 70 hospital ships. The

transport hospital ships are replenished

every voyage.

Those whom typhoid and dysentery had

weakened were not able to hold books at

all, and needed pictures instead. Mr.

Rudyard Kipling had foreseenthis

needand asked those in charge to supply strong

brown paper scrapbooks filled but not

crowded with pictures. His suggestion

was immediately adopted. These scrap-

books are made from sheets 43 x 27 inches

folded three times forming a book of six-

teen pages, about 14 x 11 inches, tied to-

gether at the back with a bow of bright rib-

bon. On the outside an attractive colored

picture is pasted. The inside pages are filled

with entertaining pictures, both in black andwhite and in color, interspersed with little

jokes, anecdotes and very short stories

from such weeklies as Punch, London

Opinion, and Answers. Short poems are

found to be acceptable space fillers.

Comic postcards are used, but no Christ-

mas cards. Pictures are always placed

straight before the eye so that the invalid

may not have to turn the scrapbook

around in order to see them, for many a

patient is too weak even to lift his hand,

and must await the coming of a nurse in

order to know what the next page has in

store for him. Volunteer makers of these

aids to cheer are urged to remember that

they are for grown men, not for children^

They have been furnished in large num-

bers by a generous public, and have been

found invaluable. Fresh scrapbooks are

supplied to the hospital ships each voyage.

A youngsoldier, just recovering

fromtyphoid, came to the War Library on his

return from Egypt and was asked to look

about and tell what he would have liked

best during his convalescence. "I was too

tired to read," said he, "but I would have

given a lot for one of those picture

books." This type of convalescent can

use games to advantage and so the WarLibrary has started a Games Department.

There is a never ceasing demand for play-

ing cards, dominoes, draughts, and goodjigsaw puzzles—even with a few pieces

missing. Anything that can be packed

flat is acceptable.

As to the kind of books the soldiers ask

for, let us have Mrs. Gaskell's experi-

ence in her own words: "Perhaps your

eyes will be opened, as mine were, to newworlds of literature," said she when inter-

viewed on the subject. "I confess I was

quite ignorant of these books before the

war. They are exciting, absorbing, sensa-tional. Detective stories are shouted for;

so is the 'Bull-dog breed,' 'The Red Seal'

and 'The Adventure' series; and all sorts

of penny novelettes. Of course, all seven-

penny, sixpenny and shilling editions arc

invaluable from their handy size and good

print. And now for the favorite authors

—they are nearly all in the sixpenny and

sevenpenny series, and come in grand pro-

cession of favor, Nat Gould, Jack London,

Rudyard Kipling, William LeQueux, Ridg-well Cullum, Charles Garvice, Guy Boothby,

A. Conan Doyle, W. W. Jacobs, Florence

Barclay, Ian Hay, Cutcliflfe Hyne, 'Q,'

John Oxenham, H. A. Vachell, Edgar

Wallace, Rider Haggard, Dumas, and

Robert Louis Stevenson. All these, multi-

plied ten thousand times by the printing

press, go out to cheer the men-folk in their

suffering and convalescence. They are a

party of perpetual entertainers who make

laughter and romance to spring up from

the battle dust. They are balm and glad-

ness.

"All detective stories—good detective

stories—are hailed with joy. Sherlock

Holmes is a physician—remember that. But

lest you feel that this ephemeral class of

books is all that is asked for, I must say

that poetry is in demand, and, as you will

see later, the immortals are wooed down

from their Olympian heights to make cheeramong mortals. The first and second six-

penny series of the 'Hundred Best Poems'

go out in generous instalments ; so do the

'Hundred Best Love Poems.' Shakespeare,

greatest of patriots, visits the hospitals

he is ever young, tho three hundred years

old—but we prefer him in single plays; a

complete volume is too bulky, perhaps too

formidable. A book must not be too

formidable or sombre to look at; it's like a

cyclist with a long hill in front of him—thesight makes him tired.

"There's a demand among the men for

handbooks on trade-handicraft subjects;

and maps, such as the Strand War Map,



8

are most acceptable. I know a gentleman

whose leisure moments are filled by turn-

ing over the leaves of Bradshaw. He

enjoys it thoroly; it's like counting the

beads on a rosary; station after station

will remind him of journeyings to and

fro in the land and bring back adventures

which made them memorable to him. Well,

I suppose it is in that manner that the

wounded soldiers enjoy maps—and natur-

ally they like to follow the war from their

resting beds.

"As for the officers, they ask for new

six shilling novels and all kinds of lighter

biographies, what Robert Louis Stevenson

calls 'heroic gossip.' Here are particular

books which I may name: 'Garibaldi and

the Thousand' (Trevelyan), 'Beatrice

d'Este' (Miss Cartwright), and 'Portraits

and Sketches' (Edmund Gosse). Travel

books of all sorts are acclaimed ; so, too,

are the light-to-hold editions of Thack-

eray, Dickens, E. A. Poe, Kipling and

Meredith. The reviews are appreciated,

especially Blackwood's, The English Re-

view and the Cornhill. These are price-

less for the sick."

Mrs. Gaskell says that the workers are

encouraged to renewed effort by the count-

less letters they receive from all over the

war area. "I don't know how we should live

without your books," writes one wounded

soldier. "I am just waiting until my pal

has finished to get hold of his book," writes

another. "We have no books," is the appeal

of an isolated group of wounded in Egypt.

"All we have had to read here was a scrap

of the advertisement page of a newspaper

picked up on the desert, and on it we saw

that you send books to sick and wounded.

Please hurry up and send some. The flies

are awful."

An ofificer in charge of a Casualty Clear-

ing Hospital writes of the great joy in

camp when he distributed the contents of

a parcel among the patients. Every man

in the hospital had something to read and

for many hours the monotony of hospital

life was greatly relieved. A popular pa])cr-

bound novel by Nat Gould lasts less than

a week. The men hide it for fear of its

being taken away. They pass it surrepti-

tiously to a comrade in the next bed, or

carry it in their pockets like a treasure

trove. It is literally read to pieces and in

a week there is sure to be a request for

another Nat Gould—a writer probably un-

known to American librarians, but of whose

books, we are told by the publishers, over

ten million copies have been sold. Accord-

ing to the Athenaeum, he is the most popu-

lar of living writers, and among the great

of the past, Dumas alone surpasses him.

In January, 1917, a New Books Depart-

ment was opened in connection with the

War Library. To provide the necessary

accommodations the servants' quarters and

stables of Surrey House were utilized. Each

room is filled with a particular class of

reading matter—as novels, books of travel,

religious books, magazines. A recent re-

port shows that in one month 77,000 new

books and 14,000 magazines were pur-

chased. This important and difficult phase

of the work is in charge of an American

woman—Miss Knobloch, sister of Edward

Knobloch, the playwright.

"I received the book you have so kindly

sent me on practical gas fitting and thank

you very much for same," writes one who

had put in a special request. "It deals with

everything you could wish to know on the

subject. I am sure it will be a great help

to me when the time comes for my dis-

charge from the Army."

The routine handling of this material is

as follows : After unpacking, the books are

stamped and sorted into various classes

like sevenpenny novels, sixpenny paper

bound novels, poetrj', classics, religious and

miscellaneous—and placed on different

tables. Those who unpack enter in a book

the names and addresses of the donors, with

remarks. Acknowledgments are made on

a special card and are also entered in the

day book. The requests are likewise en-

tered in a day book, with date, address and

number of items to be sent. A label is

written, consignment sheet made out, ad-

vice card attached, as well as a notice card

to be hung up for reference in the hospital.

These are all fastened together with a clip

and placed in a box for the selectors. The

selectors choose the books and magazines

to be scut out, enclose the notice cards, fill

in and address the advice card and place

the selection, with the label, in a box for

the packers. After the parcel is packed and

addressed the label is attached, the address

entered in the railway book, then advice



card and consignment sheet are placed in a

drawer until the Railway Company repre-

sentative calls. When the parcels leave the

Library the advice cards are dated and

posted, the consignment sheets filled, and

an index card is written for the hospital if

one has not already been made. The num-

ber of parcels sent and the date are entered

in the day book, and the book containing

the original entry is checked. When the

secretaries hear of a new hospital, a card

is sent asking whether books are desired.

At the same time an index card is made on

which the date of inquiry is entered. Aninquiry card is also sent to a hospital that

has not used books for six months.

The organization must be well thought

out or else a

TommyAtkins hospital ni

Mesopotamia will get the parcel intended

for an officers' hospital on the Riviera.

"The selectors must have intellectual sym-

pathies," says Mrs. Gaskell, "and human

sympathies. They must send a parcel to

a general hospital that contains Masefield's

'Prose Selections' and a large sprinkling of

the 'Bull-dog breed' series. Sometimes as

I touch the books and send them speeding

on their way, I think of the strange com-

pany traveling to a still stranger fate. Bos-well and Pepys, Nick Carter detective

stories, the Bible, Nat Gould, Words-

worth's Prelude, Famous Boxers, the

Koran, Miss Austen, Mark Twain, Marie

Corelli, Macaulay, London Opinion, the

Round Table, go side by side to be read

by whom ? All we know is that those brave

souls find their comfort and consolation in

reading, for they tell us so and ask for

more. Suffering, weariness, loneliness, de-

pression, weakness, fear of death—most ofus have known one or the other. But these

brave hearts know one and all ; still worse,

the fear sometimes of inaction for life.

Only books can make them forget for a few

minutes, an hour perhaps. I cannot ask for

books with thoughts in my heart like these

they ask, and surely they will not ask in

vain."

2. THE CAMPS LIBRARY

The Camps Library owes its origin to the

desire of the English to prepare in every

way for the arrival of their oversea

brethren who were coming to join the Im-

perial Army. The various contingents

were to be encamped on Salisbury Plain

a place admirably adapted for military con-

centration and training, but without any

opportunities for recreation. Colonel Sir

Edward Ward was asked by Lord Kitchener

to undertake the general care of the con-

tingents from the colonies. Sir Edward

suggested that, among other things needed

for the troops, libraries be established for

their use. The War Office approved, and

the Hon. Mrs. Anstruther undertoek the

organization of the work. An appeal to

the public was made thru the press for

books and magazines to lighten the monot-

ony of the long autumn and winter evenings

of the soldiers encamped on Salisbury Plain.

The 30,000 books asked for were quickly

secured.The

Associationof Publishers

sent a large contribution of suitable liter-

ature. The books and magazines as re-

ceived were sorted and labeled as the prop-

erty of the Overseas Library.

When it became known that the Aus-

tralian and New Zealand contingents would

not land in England, but would disembark

in Egypt, a division of books was made

necessary for the Canadians from those

for the Australians and New Zealanders.

Special tents fitted with rough shelving andtables were provided in the camps of the

Canadian soldiers. On the arrival of the

contingent, the chaplains undertook the

care and distribution of the books. The

desire of those who had given them was

that every facility should be afforded the

men in obtaining them, and that no strin-

gent restrictions should be imposed on the

loans. The charging system was a simple

one : a manuscript book in which each man

wrote the name of the book borrowed, the

date on which borrowed and his signature,

the entry being erased on its return. "Wefound that our labors had the reward for

which we worked and hoped," wrote Sir

Edward. "The oversea soldier is an omni-

vorous reader, and we had the gratification

of learning that our efforts to lighten the

dreary evening hours were very deeply ap-

preciated." Mrs. Gaskell also comments

on the curiously different appetite for books

shown by the overseas contingent, remark-

ing that the Canadians have an insatiable

desire for books of reference, as evidenced

by three requests from Colonial Hospitals



asking for the Encyclopedia Britannica in

forty volumes—all of which were duly

granted.

Large quantities of books and magazines

were forwarded to the Australians and NewZealanders in Egypt. Then a much larger

enterprise was launched: the provision oflibraries for the camps of the Territorial

and New Armies all over the United King-

dom. Troops were quartered in camps and

at detached stations far from towns and

healthful amusements. These men were as

much in need of good reading matter as the

soldiers on Salisbury Plain. A large empty

warehouse was lent thru the kindness of

the representative of the Belgian Army in

London. This was equipped with shelves

and tables and a further appeal was madeto the public thru the press, by letters to

Lord-lieutenants and other leaders in the

various countries, to Lord Mayors and

Mayors and again to the publishers. Cir-

culars were sent to all General Ofificers

commanding and the Officers' Commanding

Units, informing them of the new under-

taking, and that preparations had been

made to give them books and magazines in

the proportion of one to every six men of

their strength at a small charge sufficient

to pay for the cost of packing and the labor

of the working staff which it was found

necessary to employ, as warehousemen and

the like.

The supply of books was ample at first,

but with success came increased demands

from troops in every part of the United

Kingdom, and it became necessary to search

out fresh fields from which new supplies

might be gathered. Then came the realiza-

tion that there was a want for books and

magazines even more urgent than that of

the troops at home, and that was by the

men in the trenches and in the convalescent

and rest camps at the front. "When it is

recognized," says Sir Edward, "that in the

trenches only one-fourth of the men are

actively on duty watching the enemy, while

the remaining three-fourths are concealed

at the bottom of the trenches with their

field of vision limited to a few yards of

earth, it may well at once be realized how

important to them are any methods of en-

livening the long, weary hours of waiting.

Consequently a system was organized by

which, once a month, boxes were sent to

every unit in the Expeditionary Force, the

number of books being proportioned to the

number of men, 200 books to a battalion.

Bales were also made up for the use of

men on trains and transports.

Then the post offices thruout the country

became collecting depots for the CampsLibrary. Those wishing to send books or

maps to the soldiers and sailors need only

hand them unaddressed, unwrapped and

unstamped, over the counter of any post

office, and they are forwarded free of

charge to headquarters for sorting, labeling

and shipping to the troops. Some weeklies

print prominently on their outside cover

a reminder of the fact that the reader, when

finished with the number, can send it to the

troops by handing it without any fomality

or expense over the counter of the nearest

post office. On account of the shortage of

staff and because this work is not strictly

post office business, receipts are not given

for books and magazines received in this

manner, but the post office stafif are keenly

interested in the scheme and make the

proper disposal of literature handed in a

matter of personal pride and honor.

The literature sent in is distributed ac-

cording to an agreed proportion of bags

to the London Chamber of Commerce and

the British and Foreign Sailors' Associa-

tion for the use of the Navy; to the British

Red Cross and Order of St. John WarLibrary for the use of hospitals and hos-

pital ships; the bulk goes to the Camps

Library, which since the beginning of the

war has dealt with over nine million publi-

cations. The Camps Library alone requires

75,000 pieces weekly to meet the ordinaryminimum needs from the various seats of

war, and it is ready and eager to deal with

as many more as the public will give. Espe-

cially in winter the demand for "something

to read" in training and rest camps, as well

as from those at the front, far exceeds the

supply.

"I understand most fully," wrote Sir

Douglas Haig, "the value of readable books

to men who are out of the line with time

on their hands, and little opportunity of

getting anything of the sort for themselves.

I need say nothing to support the claim of

those who are wounded or convalescent.

The Camps Library exists for the purpose



of receiving books and magazines for dis-

tribution to our sailors and soldiers. The

demand that has now to be met is very great

and increases constantly with the growth

of our forces overseas. I am, therefore,

writing this letter to urge all those at home

who have been accustomed to buy booksand magazines in the past, to continue to

do so freely, if possible in increasing num-

bers, and, having read and enjoyed them,

to pass them on as freely to the Camps

Library for circulation among the troops."'

The following is the Camps Library

system of distribution : Any • commanding

officer of any camp at home or abroad,

wishing to form a lending library for the

use of his men, can call upon the Camps

Library for bound books. These are labeled

and sent out in lots of one hundred in the

proportion of one book to every six men.

A supply is sent to regimental recreation

rooms on request. Automatically, once a

month, no application being necessary,

boxes or bales of books and magazines are

sent to all units, in proportion to their

strength, serving with the British, Mediter-

ranean and Indian expeditionary forces.

Monthly supplies of magazines are sent to

the bases for the use of the men entraining

for the front. Chaplains of every denom-

ination in every theater of war receive on

application a box once a fortnight, or a

bale once a month, for distribution. All

requests for light literature from the pris-

oners of war are dealt with, and large

libraries have been formed at most of the

prisoners' camps in Germany.

Great as has been the weekly supply re-

sulting from the sympathy and generosityof the public, those in charge feel that if

the demands are adequately to be met the

present supply must be greatly increased,

and those responsible for the distribution of

the literature hope that the public who have

so generously supported the organization

in the past will not only, if possible, add to

their own gifts, but induce others to sup-

port the scheme, and will make the taking

of surplus books and magazines to the local

post office a war habit. The public is as-

sured that within a very few days after

the books are handed across the counter

of any post office they are in possession of

fighting men at home and abroad, on sea

and land, in camp and hospital.

Miss Marie Corelli has given several

hundred of her books, and Renee Kelly

has presented a special edition of ''Daddy

Longlegs," in the dramatic presentation

of which she has been so successful. It

has been suggested that authors might

follow these examples by presenting

copies of their novels for the use of the

troops.

Of course, some things come in that

cannot be sent out, like stray numbers of

Punch of the year 1846, "Hints to mothers,"

"How to cut a blouse," "Meditations amongthe tombs," and an old telephone directory

The authorities found it rather difficult to

deal with a herring-barrel full of sermons,

and were at a loss to know what to do with

passionate love letters included by mistake.

Those desirous of helping are asked not

to send "Talks about dress-making" or

"Guides to English watering-places."

If anyone has a doubt as to whether

these books and magazines are appreciated

by the men for whom they are intended a

glance thru the hundreds of letters kept at

headquarters will dispel it. "Cramped ina crumbling dug-out, time passes slowly,

and the monotony is greatly relieved by a

few 'mags' from the old folks at home,"

writes one officer from the front. "The

men all ask for pre-war magazines. It is

nice to get away from it for a time." Aletter from France brought this message

"The last parcel of your books came just

as we had been relieved after the gas at-

tack, and there is nothing like a book for

taking one's mind off what one has seen

and gone thru." The wear and tear on

printed matter in the trenches is very hard,

and magazines at the front last but a short

time.

"A hut will probably be allotted to us

as a recreation room, and it will contain

bookcases made by our own pioneers from

bacon boxes to hold your gifts," reports

another officer. Supply wagons known to

contain parcels of books are eagerly

watched for by the troops in the Land of

Somewhere. "The lads were never so

pleased in their lives as when I told them

I had some books for them," is the way one



12

lance-corpora! puts it. An extract from

another officer's letter tells the same story

"Most of the men were lying or sitting

about with nothing to do. When I said I

had a box of books to lend, they were

around me in a moment like a lot of hounds

at a worry, and in less than no time each

had a book—at least as far as they would

go. Those who hadn't been quick enough

were trying to get the lucky ones to read

aloud. It would have done you good to

see how the men enjoyed getting the books.

. . . May we have more, as many more

as you can spare?"

A regimental officer writes from Gallipoli

that he considers it most important "to give

the men some occupation in this monoto-

nous and dull trench warfare." "The long

hours of waiting that frequently fall to the

lot of a unit in the trenches are not nearly

so trying if the men have a good supply of

books," is the testimony of another officer.

"All the books sent seem very welcome, for

soldiers' tastes vary," says one writer from

"Somewhere in France." Men in Salonika

have requested a copy of a Greek history,

their interest in the subject being awakened

by the treasures of antiquity which theyexcavated while digging trenches. "It

would give us great joy to get a few books

on Syria and Palestine," is the statement

of an Army chaplain. "I myself can get

but few books,—none about the Crusaders.

Only Dr. Stewart's about the Holy Land.

And my men are hungry for information.

I have sent for books and they have not

come. I would gladly pay for any book on

either subject mentioned. The difficulties

of transport have got in my way. When 1

was in Cairo I could not get a guide to

Syria or a book on the Crusaders, either in

English or French. Yet life out in the

desert, or rather, wilderness, is conducive

to mental receptivity and thought of higher

things."

Another phase of the work undertaken

by the Camps Library was to establish

lending libraries for the use of British

prisoners of war in Germany, Austria, Hol-

land, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Turkey.

The packages include much modern fiction

as well as novels by some of the old stand-

ard authors. Biography, travel, history and

poetry, magazines, music and playing cards

are also provided. Everything is barred

that deals with modern international politics

or that would be likely to give offense or

information to the enemy. Fresh consign-

ments are sent from time to time, both to

make up for any depreciation and to in-

crease the size and scope of the library.

Where a large camp has a number of work-

ing camps attached to it, arrangements have

been made by which the librarian at the

central camp receives special consignments

for distribution among the latter. When-

ever possible individual requests are sup-

plied, and parcels are forwarded to any

prisoner who applies for specific books.

As a rule the German authorities have

alwa3'S given every facility for the receipt

and distribution of books among the men.

At first there was great difficulty in getting

in touch with the prisoners in Turkey and

Bulgaria, but communication is improving

and acknowledgments of packets received

are reaching the Camps Library headquar-

ters regularly.

The most pathetic bit of correspondence

connected with the whole work is a pen-

cilled note on a sheet of paper fastened

with red sealing wax to an inside page of

a copy of "The story teller"

With Best Wishes.

1 am onlj- a little boy of lo years.

And I Hope who ever gets this Book

will like it. My father is missing. Since

the 25 and 26 Sept. 1915. The Battle of

Loos. I wonder if it will fall in the

hands of anyone who was in that Battle

and could give us any Information con-

cerning Him.

Underneath is written the name of the

lad's father, the number of the battalion,

the name of his regiment, and the home

address. Inquiries were set on foot, but.

alas, they were of no avail. The little boy's

father was one of the great army who had

died a hero's death for his country's sake.

3. THE YOUNG MEN's CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

"Until the beginning of the w.ir,"

writes F. A. McKenzie in the London

Daily Moil, "the average citizen regarded

the Y. M. C. A. as a somewhat milk-and-

waterish organization, run by elderly

men, to preach to youth. This view was



13

exceedingly unfair, but it is true that the

Y. M. C. A. never had its full chance

here until the war came. Then it seized

its opportunity. It does not do much

preaching nowadays. It is too busy

serving."* The organization has emerged

from a position ofcomparative

obscurity

into one of national prominence. Lord

Derby has spoken of the Y. M. C. A. as

"invaluable in peace time and indispens-

able in war time." Ever since the war

broke out it has sent a constant stream

of books and magazines to its huts at

home and overseas. Hundreds of thou-

sands have gone. For nearly two years

the Y. M. C. A. made its appeal thru the

Camps Library; but the demand for

reading matter increased so enormouslythat no single organization could cope

with it. and the Y. M. C. A. agreed to

enter upon a book campaign of its own.

The ground floor of "Triangle House,"

the new Y. M. C. A. trading and trans-

port headquarters, has been devoted to

the purpose. A strong staff of voluntary

women workers has been recruited by

Mrs. Douglas Gordon, the honorary li-

brarian, and the ladies have already shown

what they can do in the matter of sort-

ing, packing and despatching books. Mr.

and Mrs. Ernest Rhys energetically or-

ganized local "book-days" in London.

Two days in Hampstead alone yielded

thousands of volumes. But the great

necessity was that a never-ceasing supply

of books and magazines from all quarters

should be left at, forwarded prepaid or

sent by post to Triangle House, Totten-

ham Court Road, or at

anyof the

Y. M.C, A. Bureaus in London.

Book-teas or book-receptions, to which

each visitor brings one or more volumes,

prove very fruitful. In certain parts of

the country, Y. M. C. A. book-days have

been held, when by the aid of Boy Scouts,

or a collection taken on the tramways,

thousands of volumes have been secured

for local huts. It was suggested that this

* What the organization is doing for the soldiers

in various ways is told by J. E. Hodder Williams, in

his new book, "One young man; the simple and truestory of a clerk who enlisted in 19:4, who fought onthe Western Front for nearly two years, was severelywounded at the battle of the Sommc, and is now onhis way back to his desk." (London: Hodder &Stoughton, 1917.)

kind of thing might be undertaken in

dozens of towns for the larger purpose

of sending books overseas, not only to

France, but to Egypt, Mesopotamia, Brit-

ish East Africa, Salonika and Malta.

Books are sent to the huts, of course, but

they are valuedeven more

in thedug-

outs along the actual trenches, or when

given to men just starting on a tedious

thirty-hour railway journey from the

base to the front. For such purposes

pocket editions are highly prized.

The general libraries are intended to

contain the best stories, poetry, travel,

biography and essays, both classical and

modern. Educational books are needed

in every hut where lectures and classes

are being carried on. A good devotionallibrary is wanted for every Quiet Roomthe writings of men like Augustine, a

Kempis, Bunyan, Robertson, or Spurgcon,

and the outstanding books of the last ten

years on religion. It has been suggested

that various church organizations makeup libraries of this kind of literature and

thus perform a practical service to the

men of the Army.

In the field of educational books, the

Y. M. C. A. has taken over the workhitherto carried on by the Fighting Forces

Book Council, which was constituted for

the special task of providing literature of

a more solid and educational value for

men of the forces. The authorities feel

that they need large numbers, not so muchof school books or text books, as of

brightly written, reliable modern mono-graphs like those in the "Home Univer-

sity Library" and Jack's series of "Peo-ple's Books," so that the men can follow

up the lectures that they have heard.

Volumes of the "Everyman's Library," or

of Nelson's reprints have been found well

suited to the needs. The lectures given in

the huts have greatly stimulated the book

hunger in the men. and their interest in

the history of "Old Blighty."

An officer commanding a military school

of instruction in France recently wrote in

to Headquarters, begging for a library.

He sent a list of the kind of books which

he was desirous of putting at the dis-

posal of the cadets during the first stage



14

of their education at his school. "I hope

from all this," said he, "you may be able

to gather the type of book we should like

—authoritative, but not too long or too

heavy for minds dulled to study by trench

life."

Money sent by friends can be spent bythe authorities to the best advantage, as

special arrangements have been made with

the publishers and with the great firms

that run railway bookstalls and circulat-

ing libraries. One of these firms supplies

second-hand copies of the standard novels

in good editions, at the rate of six shillings

per dozen.

Appeals are being sent out from the

National Headquarters at the Central

Y. M. C. A. in Tottenham Court Road,

London, for books and magazines, thou-

sands of which are needed every week for

the soldiers in camp and "up-the-line."

The public helped well at first, but then

the supply dropped down sadly. In con-

sequence notices were sent out in Febru-

ary, 1917, calling special attention to the

need for small pocket editions of novels

the sevenpenny and shilling size; good

novels by standard authors; books of

history, biography and travel ; manuals of

science; religious books; illustrated mag-

azines; really good literature of all kinds,

but not large or heavy books, and no old

out-of-date ones. People were urged to

give something that they themselves really

cared for. They were notified by circular

that the Y. M. C. A. book collector would

call shortly. "We trust that you will

spare half a dozen or more of your favor-

ite authors," said the president of theLadies' Auxiliary Committee. "You will

never regret this small sacrifice for our

men serving their country."

Placards were distributed reading: "Mo-

bilize your books. Leave your favorite

books, novels, war-books, current maga-

zines, at the nearest Y. M. C. A. depot,

or send them to the Book Bureau, 144,

Tottenham Court Road. They are ur-

gently needed for our soldiers abroad, at

the base, and in the trenches."

Mr. A. St. John Adcock, the well-

known novelist and journalist, has de-

scribed a visit he made to the Y. M. C. A.

huts in France and in Flanders. "Wher-

ever the troops go," said he, "the huts

of the Y. M. C. A. spring up in the midst

of them; or if you notice no huts it is

because you are in the danger zone, and

the Y. M. C. A. is carrying on its benefi-

cent business as usual in dim cellars undershattered houses or in convenient dug-

outs among the trenches. . . . There is

always a library in the Y. M. C. A. huts

when their arrangements are completed.

Sometimes it is in a small separate room;

'isually it is on half a dozen or more

shelves in a corner, and, perhaps because

books happen to be my own principal

form of enjoyment, I always think it adds

just the last touch of homeliness to the

hut. And you may depend that thousandsof the soldiers think so, too. For one

has to remember that our armies to-day

are like no armies that ever went out to

battle for us before. Most of our soldiers

in the Napoleonic wars, even in the Cri-

mean War. did not require books, because

they couldn't read; but the British, Ca-

nadian, Australasian and South African

troops on service the world over are

largely made up of men who were part

of what we call the reading public at

home, and if books were their friends in

peace time they are even greater friends

to them now, especially when they have

to make long waits in Base camps, far be-

hind the trenches, and have more than

plenty of leisure on their hands." Or, as

Mr. Charles T. Bateman put it: "The

private of to-day is not an ignorant yokel

who has taken the shilling to escape some

trouble."

Mr. Adcock says that before he made

this visit to the front, he had, and he

knew others who had, letters from sev-

eral soldiers asking for books of recita-

tions suitable for camp concerts. Some

wrote for certain poets and essayists;

while two inquired definitely for text

books in chemistry and biology. In the

camps, Mr. Adcock naturally found that

the chief demand was for fiction, but

there were many men who had prefer-

ences for biography, essays, poetry, and

for all manner of histories. One man

who was reading Macaulay's History re-



15

gretted that there was only an odd first

volume in the library, and he was anxious

to get hold of the second. A sergeant

ran off a score of titles of novels and

memoirs he had recently read, and he

was now tackling Boswell. He was anx-

ious to know if Mr. Adcock could send

him half a dozen copies of Omar Khay-yam, which he would like to give to some

of his men as Christmas presents. There

were several Dickens enthusiasts in the

camp. One who knew nothing of him

before he went out, except the "Tale of

Two Cities," had, since he had been in

France, borrowed and read "David Cop-

perfield" and "Great Expectations," and

was now deep in "Our Mutual Friend."

"He spoke of these stories," says Mr. Ad-

cock, "as delightedly as a man might talk

of the wonders of a newly-discovered

world, and it made me sorry that those

who had given these books for his use

could never quite know how much they

had given."

Sometimes the men just take the books

to read in the reading room, but often

they prefer to take them to their bar-

racks, in which case they leave a small

deposit until the book is returned. Themen feel that if they had twice as many

books as at present they should not have

enough. They especially want more books

of the better kind. They could use any

amount of fiction by Kipling, Wells, Ben-

nett, Ian Hay, Barrie, Doyle, Hall Caine,

Stevenson, Jacobs—there's a public for

them all, while Dickens, Scott and the

older novelists are wonderfully popular.

Properly prepared scrap-books have

proved invaluable. There is also a sur-

prising number of more serious readers

who ask for Carlyle, Emerson, Greene,

Lamb, Ruskin, Shakespeare, Tennyson—books which frequently cannot be sup-

plied.

"I overtook a smart young soldier one

afternoon on the fringe of one of the

base camps," writes Mr. Adcock. "Helimped slightly, and as we walked to-

gether I noticed a copy of Browning

sticking out of his breast pocket, and re-

marked upon it. It seemed he had been

for three weeks in the convalescent part

of the camp with a badly sprained ankle,

and had profited by that leisure to read

for the first time the whole of Keats and

Wordsworth, and was just beginning

Browning. He came from Manchester

and was, in civil life, a musician. 'But,'

he laughed, 'you can't bring a 'cello with

you on active service, so I have fallen

back more on reading. I was always fond of

it, but I've read more in the ten months

I have been here than in any ten months

at home.' He drew the Browning from

his pocket, and I noticed the Y. M. C. A.

stamp on it. 'Yes,' he said, 'they've got

some fine little libraries in the huts. They

are a godsend to the chaps here. But I

haven't been able to come across a Shelley

or a Francis Thompson yet. I would like

to read Thompson.'

Of the elderly volunteer workers who

had given not only their time but also

their automobiles to the Y. M. C. A., Mr.

Adcock saw three who had sons up in

the trenches, and two who had sons ly-

ing in the soldiers' cemeteries behind the

lines. "It is not possible for all of us

to do as much as that," said he. "Most

of us have neither time nor cars to give;

but it is possible for all of us to do some-thing to lighten the lives of our fighting

men, and since I have seen what pleasure

and solace they get from them, I know

that even if we give nothing but books

we have given infinitely more than our

money could buy."

"The problem of dealing with condi-

tions, at such a time, and under existing

circumstances, at the rest camps, has al-

ways been a most difficult one," wrote

General French from Headquarters, "but

the erection of huts by the Young Men's

Christian Association has made this far

easier. The extra comfort thereby af-

forded to the men, and the opportunities

for reading and writing, have been of

incalculable service." The providing of

free stationery in all its buildings, at an

outlay averaging £1000 per week, has been

a beneficent and highly salutary phase of

the Y. M. C. A. work. The expense is

justified, as the letters he writes mean

everything to the soldier and his friends.

They not only help to keep him straight.



i6

but also preserve the happy relationship

between the sender and the receiver. Mil-

lions of letters have been written on this

Y. M. C. A. paper, and the recipients have

felt reassured because they realized that

there was someone looking after their

boys. Roman Catholics and Jews have

written grateful letters to Headquarters

because their friends had received a wel-

come at the writing tables without any

question of creed being raised. In view

of all that this organization is doing at

the front, it is no wonder that the grate-

ful soldiers interpret the ever-welcome

Y. M. C. A. sign as meaning "You Make

Christianity Attractive."

4. british prisoners of war book scheme

(educational)

Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities,

three Englishmen, held captive in the

makeshift camp formed out of the build-

ings attached to the race-course at Ruhle-

ben, in the neighborhood of Berlin, sent

identical letters to three friends in Great

Britain (of whom one was Mr. Alfred T.

Davies, C.B., permanent Secretary of the

Welsh Department of the Board of Educa-

tion) asking that serious books be sent them

for purposes of study. This request led

Mr. Davies to organize a system of book

supply for British prisoners of war in-

terned in Germany. The appeal which he

sent out met with a liberal response, but

as the station in life of the men interned

varied from that of a university professor

to that of a jockey, it required some work

to find books suited to the different tastes

and capacities. The Camp Education De-partment was organized, and an appeal to

the public for offers of new or second-

hand books was sanctioned by the Presi-

dent of the Board of Education. Imme-

diately there was a generous response.

Within the first year about 9000 educa-

tional books were forwarded to Ruhleben.

The 200 lecturers and their pupils, gath-

ered from the 4000 civilians interned there,

now have an excellent library to draw

from. The Foreign Office then approvedsteps taken to extend to prisoners in other

camps the advantages which have proved

i^o helpful in Ruhleben, and inquiries con-

ducted thru the British Legations at The

Hague, Copenhagen and Berne, and thru

the United States Embassies at Berlin,

Vienna, Sofia and Constantinople, resulted

in applications being received from vari-

ous camps in Holland, Germany, Austria,

Turkey, Bulgaria and Switzerland. These

requests have all been met from supplies

gathered at the Board of Education head-

quarters. The wants of prisoners can be

nearly always supplied if their relatives

will communicate with Mr. Davies at the

Board of Education Offices, Whitehall.

Among the subjects on which books have

been specially requested are agriculture,

art (including oil and watercolor painting,

pastel, drawing and perspective, printing

and design,lettering, etc.);

architecture;atlases; aviation; biography; Celtic

(Gaelic and W^elsh) ; commerce, finance

and banking; dictionaries and grammars

(English and foreign, especially Italian,

Spanish and Russian) ; encyclopaedias; en-

gineering in its numerous branches; for-

estry; handicrafts; Hindustani; music of

various kinds; natural history; naviga-

tion; Russian literature; trades; telegraphy

and telephony; travel. This book scheme

does not overlap the work of any otherwar organization. "It will be a matter of

surprise to many," says Mr. Davies, "to

learn that, for over a year and a half, some

200 lecturers and teachers and 1500 stu-

dents, organized in nine different depart-

ments of study (the arts, languages, sci-

ences, navigation, engineering, music, etc.)

Iiave been busily at work in the Camp,

and that there is perhaps as much solid

work going on among these civilian vic-

tims of the Great War as can be claimed

to-day by any University in the British

Empire."

The educational work of the Camp is

suited to meet the requirements of three

classes of men: i. Those whose intern-

ment has interrupted their preparations

for such examinations as the London

matriculation, the various university de-

grees, or the Board of Trade nautical

examinations; 2. Those who already hadentered upon a commercial or professional

career; 3. Those who are pursuing some

form of learning for learning's sake. An



17-

interesting development has been formu-

lated by which interned men who attend

classes may secure under certain condi-

tions a recognition of their work when

they return home. The Board of Trade,

which has welcomed the idea with en-

thusiasm, is prepared, in calculating the

period of qualifying service required be-

fore a certificate of competency can be

obtained, to take into account the evi-

dence of study during internment sub-

mitted to them on a special form. This

record form has been drawn up for use

in the camps, after consultation with vari-

ous examining and professional bodies,

for the purpose of obtaining and preserv-

ing authenticated details of the courses of

study pursued by any student in a camp.It is hoped that this record may be of

material benefit to the men when the time

comes for them to resume their inter-

rupted careers. Thus a man who wants

to become a master, mate, first or second

engineer in the mercantile marine, skip-

per or second hand of a fishing vessel,

and is willing to devote a few hours a

day to regular study in a camp where

there is systematic instruction in naviga-

tion and seamanship, can have this workcounted towards his certificate.

The Ruhleben Camp started a library

of its own on Nov. 14, 1914, with 83 books,

received from the American Ambassador,

Mr. Gerard, and Mr. Trinks.* Books

were also received from the Seamen's

Mission at Hamburg and from Mudie's

Library. By July, 1915, there were 2000

English and American magazines, 300

German books and 130 French books. Onthe average 250 books a day were taken

out. As they had a printer in camp, they

decided to print a catalog. The demands

that come in now at the enlarged library

are varied and curious, but nearly all can

• "Books, brochures and maps were procurablethrough the Camp Bookseller (Mr. F. L. Musset);and on the walls of many a horse-box or in the pas-

sage of the stables were pasted large maps of thevarious theatres of war, upon which the course of

operations was followed from day to day. Manymen also cut out of their papers the small maps il-

lustrating particular campaigns and preserved them

for future reference. As these various publicationshad to be ordered through the Camp Bookseller andpassed through the hands of the military authorities,

the latter were able to prevent the entry of anyprinted matter that was considered dangerous."Israel Cohen, "The Ruhleben prison camp: a recordof nineteen months' internment." 1917, p. 212.

be supplied from the shelves. Books in

fourteen languages have been asked for

and supplied. Dictionaries and books on

electricity and engineering are constantly

in demand. One man asks for a book on

tropical agriculture; another wants a

manual on cotton spinning, while a third

man needs Schlumberger's "Siege de Con-

stantinople." Another writes for, and re-

ceives thru the generosity of the pub-

lisher, a beautiful work on the "Sculp-

tured tombs of Rome," a subject on

which he is planning to make a personal

contribution after his release. SomeR. N. V. R. men at Doeberitz sent in a

comprehensive request for "The Agricul-

tural Holding Act, a Motor Manual, Prac-

tical Navigation, Bee-keeping and Furni-ture (periods and styles)."

"We are working in stone-quarries with

some Frenchmen," writes a private, "and

should like to be able to talk to them more."

"I can speak Russian pretty fair, but not in

their grammar," writes a Jack Tar. Acertified teacher writes: "No one knows

better than I myself how I am deteriorat-

ing," and he asks for and receives books

on Educational Psychology, so as to catchup again with the trend of thought in his

profession. The aim of the organization

is to provide every prisoner with exactly

the book or books he may desire or need,

on any subject or in any language. " 'No

dumping allowed,' is a rule which is ap-

plied alike to donors and recipients," says

Mr. Davies. " 'Feed us with books,' is the

appeal, but send us first a list of books

with their titles and their dates of publi-

cation so that we may mark those that are

likely to be of use. If we did not protect

ourselves in this way we would have peo-

ple who wanted to clear out their libra-

ries and rid themselves of old novels and

old school books by dumping them on us.

As it is we get, and we hope to get, until

our prisoners are free, a constant supply

of useful historical, technical, geograph-

ical and other books, all of them in good

condition and many quite new. In each

of them we put a book-plate saying that

the book is supplied by X (giving the

donor's name) thru the agency of the

Board of Education."



i8

One prisoner, desperate with his weary

months of captivity, wrote: "I shall go

mad unless I get something to read," and

his case is typical of many others.* In sup-

port of Mr. Davies' call for either money

or books, a correspondent wrote to the

London Times an appeal on behalf of the

British prisoners of war. "You have fed,

you are feeding their bodies," said he.

"To the prisoners in Germany you are

sending bread, which they badly need, as

well as sardines and hams and jams and

toothpowder and monthly magazines and

other luxuries of life which they keenly

appreciate. But prisoners cannot live by

bread alone, and not even a pot of marma-

lade or a thrilling story by X or Y can fill

the void. They want food for the mindas well as for the stomach and the imag-

ination, and, unless their minds are to

decay, they must have it. . . . The months

or years of internment need not be waste

time. The calamity may even be turned

to good account (as other calamities inci-

dent to warfare are being every day)

thanks to the scheme which enables en-

forced leisure to be filled with profitable

study. ... It is not only a question of

providing the excellent cure for boredomknown as 'getting your teeth' into a

course of study. It is more even than en-

abling the younger prisoners to continue

their education and keep up in the race

with their more fortunate coevals. Theiron has entered into the soul of many, or

most, of these men. To provide them with

the means of hard work for the mind maybe to do more than enable them to win

someprofit

out of calamity. It may be toaffect their whole attitude toward life, the

future tone and temper of their minds and

spirits. It may be to bring them back to

us full of vitality and gladness, not embit-

tered and despairing; to save for cheer-

fulness and happy, hopeful work in the

world what else might have been irre-

mediably lost. Of all the existing schemes

for the relief of prisoners, military and

• "No more books or music, and nomore women.I'm simply rotting mentally." W^illiam G. Shepherd,

the war correspondent, says that he has had officers

make this confession to him in five diflferent lan-guages in seven different armies. "I'm rotting, andI can't help it." Not all the bad things of warhappen to human bodies, comments Mr. Shepherd.

civil, this is surely the most beneficent."

The best idea of the intellectual side of

life at Ruhleben Camp can be had from

reading the volume edited by Douglas

Sladen: "In Ruhleben; letters from a

prisoner to his mother" (London, Hurst

& Blackett, 1917). Bishop Bury, whovisited the camp officially, said that there

was so much studying going on that he

called it the University of Ruhleben. Thewriter of the letters is an anonymous

young university undergraduate of the

tj'pe responsible for the class-spirit of

Ruhleben. On the second day in camp he

was introduced into a little group which

read Bergson's "Le rire" under the most

extraordinary conditions. He taught an

intermediate French class, the pupils rang-ing from a sailor to a graduate of Aber-

deen University. He read Schiller's plays

with a few comrades, and he himself

worked thru the Theaetetus of Plato. Healso helped a couple of men with some

elementary Latin and was planning to

take one of them in Greek.

The interned men publish a magazine

In Ruhleben Camp in which are re-

flected the various currents of thought

among the prisoners. One Philistine

sneered about every one wanting to learn

several languages at once. "I do not sup-

pose," said he, "there is a single man in

the camp who cannot ask you how you

feel, how you felt yesterday, in half a

dozen different languages, but I doubt if

there are more than ten who can say

what is wrong with them in three." The

Debating Society discussed such subjects

as "Resolved, that concentration campsare an essentially retrogressive feature of

warfare"; "That bachelors be taxed,"

(the meeting deciding wholeheartedly

that bachelorhood was enough of a tax

itself, since they had lived in an enforced

state of bachelorhood from the opening

of the Camp) ; "That the metric system

be introduced into Great Britain," which

fell thru because no speaker could be

found to oppose it. Whitaker's Almanac

gives 125 denominations and multiples of

anything from 53^ to 112 which one is

supposed to know something about if he

wishes to keep in touch with the com-



19

merce of the world. The only man re-

puted to have mastered the English sys-

tem lived to a great age and died just

as he completed his knowledge.

The Committee in charge of the British

Prisoners of War Book Scheme is con-

sidering a plan whereby released prison-ers in poor circumstances, and especially

those living in rural districts and remote

parts of the British Isles, will be able to

obtain the loan, for purposes of study,

of books which they cannot afiford to buy,

and which they cannot borrow from a

nearby public library. It is hoped that

as an outcome of the committee's ef-

forts a large lending library will be es-

tablished for the benefit of the released

British prisoners and victims of the war,

operated possibly in connection with some

already existing library as a center.

5. THE MILITARY HOSPITAL, ENDELL STREET,

LONDON

The Military Hospital in Endell street,

London, is the only one of its kind in Eng-

land officered entirely by women. The

staff includes fourteen doctors, thirty-six

nursing sisters and ninety orderlies. In

the spring of 1915 when preparations were

being made for the reception of tlie

wounded sent back from the front, two

well known literary women were invited

to act as honorary librarians. These were

Miss Elizabeth Robins and Miss Beatrice

Harraden. They were asked to collect

suitable books and magazines, and by per-

sonal intercourse with the soldiers to en-

courage them to read. Their task was to

help the men thru their long hours of ill-

ness by providing reading matter that

would interest and amuse them. Miss

Harraden says that from the outset it

seemed an interesting project, but nothing

like so stimulating and gratifying as it has

proved to be. It has shown the truth of

the maxim that reading is to the mind

what medicine is to the body.

They began by writing to their publisher

friends, who generously sent large con-

signments of fiction, travel and biography,

and hundreds of magazines. Authors also

willingly came to their aid. A lady pre-

sented a dignified and imposing bookcase.

which was placed in the recreation room,

giving an outward and visible sign of the

official existence of a library. Other book-

cases were given and were soon filled.

The librarians were "still engaged in the

heavy task of sorting and rejecting liter-

ally shoals of all sorts and conditions ofbooks, when suddenly the hospital was

opened and the men arrived from the front.

It was remarkable what private people did

send—and do still send. It was as if they

had said to themselves : Here is a grand

opportunity of getting rid of all of our

old, dirty, heavy book encumbrances!'

Miss Harraden says that she does not re-

call ever having been so dirty or so in-

dignant. It was necessary to keep con-

stantly on hand a number of sacks in

which all surplus matter was despatched

to one of the war libraries or to the Sal-

vation Army, which disposed of useless

books and papers for pulp making. But to

offset this there were the people who with

generosity and understanding sent newbooks or money with which to buy needed

volumes.

It was early decided to have no red tape.

The book cases were left unlocked at all

times so as to enable the men who used

the room to go to the shelves and pick out

what they liked. The librarians took books

into the wards to the men who were con-

fined to their beds. After various experi-

ments, Miss Harraden and Miss Robins

divided the wards between them and madethe rounds with note-book in hand, find-

ing out whether the soldier cared to read

and if so what kind of thing he was likely

to want. This mental probing had to bedone without worrying the patient, for in

some cases the thought of a book wasapparently more terrifying than the idea

of a bomb. In such cases, a smok« served

as a substitute for reading, to which gener-

ally speaking it was a natural concomitant.

There were some patients who had never

learned to read. With one exception these

men were miners. Men who were not

naturally readers acquired the reading

habit while in the hospital. Many of the

men when they became well enough to be-

come out-patients asked permission for

continued use of the library. It was a



20

source of much pleasure to the librarians

to see old patients stroll into the recreation

room and pick out for themselves a book

by an author with whom they had become

acquainted in their early days at the

hospital.

A glance thru the order books will show

the type of popular reading chosen by the

patients. Taking the order books at ran-

dom, but the entries consecutively, we get

a list like the following which will give

some idea of the result of the pilgrimages

from one bedside to another, and from one

ward to another

One of Nat Gould's novels.

Regiments at the front.

Burns's poems.

A book on bird life.

The last days of Pompeii.

Strand Magazine.

Strand Magazine.

I'Vidc World Magazine.

The Spectator.

A scientific book.

Review of Reviews.

By the wish of a woman (Marchmont).

One of Rider Haggard's.

Marie Corelli.

Nat Gould.

Rider Haggard.

Nat Gould.Nat Gould.

Nat Gould.

Good detective story.

Something to make you laugh.

Strand Magazine.

Adventure story.

Tale of two cities.

Gil Bias.

Browning's poems.

Tolstoi's Resurrection.

Sexton Blake.

Handy Andy (Lover).

Kidnapped.Treasure Island.

Book about rose growing.

Montezuma's daughter (Haggard).

Prisoner of Zenda.

Macaulay's Essays.

The magnetic north (Robins).

Nat Gould.

Sexton Blake.

Modern high explosives.

Dawn (Haggard).

Wild animals.

Book on horse-breaking.

Radiography.Some of the men showed an anxiety to

have a book waiting for them after an

operation, so that they might begin to read

i* and forget some of their pains if pos-

sible. In some cases the patient would

choose the author or the subject before go-

ing thru his ordeal.

The popular periodicals play a great

part in this work with the soldiers. Those

most in demand are The Strand, The

Windsor, The Red, Pearson's, The WideWorld, and of course John Bull, which the

average soldier looks upon as a sort of

gospel. New arrivals from the trenches

are cheered up at once by the very sight

of the well-known cover, says Miss Har-

raden. Even if too ill to read it, they like

to have it near them, ready for the mo-

ment when returning strength gives them

the incentive to take a glance at some of

its pages.

Some of the soldiers have decided pre-

dilections for particular magazines and

will not look at any but their pet ones.

Miss Harraden tells of one man who con-

fined himself entirely to Blackwood's and

preferred a back number of that to the

current number of any other upstart rival.

Another was interested only in the Review

of Reviews, and a third remained loyal to

the Nineteenth Century. "Others have

asked only for wretched little rags whichone would wish to see perish off the face

of the earth. But as time has gone on,

these have been less and less asked for

and their place has been gradually taken

by the Sphere, the Graphic, the Taller, the

Illustrated London News, and the Sketch.

—another instance of a better class of

literature being welcomed and accepted if

put within easy reach. In our case this

has been made continuously possible by

friends who have given subscriptions for

both monthly and weekly numbers, and by

others who send in their back numbers in

batches, and by the publishers, who never

fail us."

The experience in the matter of book

selection at the Military Hospital bears

out that of the secretaries of the War Li-

brary. It was found necessary to invest in

a large number of detective stories, and of

books by Charles Garvice, Oppenheim

and Nat Gould. A certain type of man

would be satisfied with nothing but Nat

Gould. No matter how badly off he was,

the suggestion of a book by Nat Gould



21

would bring a smile to his face. Miss

Harraden says that she has often heard

the whispered words : "A Nat Gould

ready for when I'm better."

But if one man were reading Nat

Gould's "Jockey Jack"—a great favorite

the man in the next bed might just as likely

as not be reading Shakespeare, or the ''Pil-

grim's progress," or Shelley, or Meredith,

or Conrad, or a volume of the Everyman's

Encyclopsedia which was contributed by

Mr. Dent on request. A subscription to

Mudie's helped out a great deal.

Curiosity prompted an inquiry as to why

a certain reader who seemed most unprom-

ising should ask for "The last days of

Pompeii."' It turned out that he had seen

the story in a picture theatre. He became

literally riveted to the book until he had

finished it and then he passed it on to his

neighbor as a real find. Another soldier

who had been introduced thru filmland to

"Much ado about nothing" asked for the

book, which was the first of several vol-

umes of Shakespeare to go to his bedside.

Altho the librarians never attempted to

force good books on the soldiers, they took

pains to have them within reach. They

found that when the men once began on a

better class of literature they did not

ordinarily return to the old stuff, which

had formerly constituted their whole range

of reading. Miss Harraden believes that

the average soldier reads rubbish because

he has had no one to tell him what to read.

Robert Louis Stevenson has lifted many

of the patients in this hospital to a higher

plane of reading, from which he has

looked down with something like scorn onhis former favorites. In more ways than

one, "Treasure Island" has been a dis-

covery for the soldiers, and an unspeak-

able boon to tlie librarians.

One day the librarians were asked for

a particular book on high explosives. They

hesitated about spending eighteen shill-

ings to meet a single request, but on re-

ferring the matter to the doctor in charge

tliey were told to go ahead and buy not

only that but any other special books that

seemed to be wanted. This suggested the

idea of finding out just what special sub-

jects the men were interested in. what their

occupations had been before the war, what

their plans for the future were. Thence-

forth the work of the librarians became

tenfold more interesting. To a certain

extent it became constructive inasmuch

as it was helping to equip the men for their

return to active life when they should betaking up some particular art or craft as

a means of livelihood.

In came requests for books on aero-

planes; architecture; cabinet making andold furniture; chemistry, organic and in-

organic; coal mining; drawing and paint-

ing; electricity; engineering in its various

branches; fish curing; gardening andforestry; languages; meteorology; music;

paper making; printing; submarines;

veterinary medicine; violin making, and

so on. The soldier who asked for the book

on fish curing was from Nova Scotia, and

fish curing was his father's business. Theson wanted to learn the English methodand gain all the information he could

about the subject while in England, before

he was sent back home. A book on Shef-

field plate was lent to the hospital library

by an antiquary and proved to be a veri-

table godsend to a crippledsoldier who hadbeen a second-hand dealer before the war

and who considered it a rare chance that

had thrown that book in his way. He madecopious notes from it which he said wouldhe invaluable to him afterwards.

The New Zealanders and Australians

are always keen on books about England.

They ask also for their own poets and for

Bushranger stories.

The men who will read nothing l)ut good

literature are by no means a negligible

quantity. Shakespeare has his ardent de-

votees in this hospital. Current books

which have aroused public interest weregenerously provided by the publishers. Anendeavor was made to supply not only

standard works, but books of the momentbearing on the war. Books on aeroplanes,

submarines and wireless telegraphy weremuch in demand even before special at-

tention was paid to technical subjects.

Books dealing with wild animals and their

habits are always great favorites.

"Our experiences," concludes Miss Har-raden. "have tended to show that a librarv



22

department organized and run by people

who have some knowledge of books might

prove to be a useful asset in any hospital,

both military and civil, and be the means

of affording not only amusement and dis-

traction, but even definite education, in-

duced of course, not insisted on. To ob-

tain satisfactory results it would seem,

however, that even a good and carefully

chosen collection of books of all kinds does

not suffice. In addition, an official libra-

rian is needed who will supply the initia-

tive, which in the circumstances is of

necessity lacking, and whose duty it is to

visit the wards, study the temperaments,

inclinations, and possibilities of the pa-

tients andthus find out by direct personal

intercourse what will arouse, help, stimu-

late, lift—and heal."

6. PICTURES AND POETRY

After a Y. M. C. A. service on a Sunday

morning at the front not long ago, an

officer who evidently had been thinking

along some special lines as he sat with his

men, remarked: "Do you know, this hour

has been a very wonderful one for me ! It

isn't that the service itself has moved me

in any particular way, but as I took my

place my eye fell on that picture. It took

me back to the nursery at home, and all

the while I have been in this hut the mem-

ories of childhood and the sanctities of

home have been calling in my heart." The

picture that made such a deep impression

was an ordinary print of Millais'

"Bubbles."

The idea of supplying pictures for the

soldiers is probably a new one even to the

people who are thinking about the welfare

and comfort of the men at the front. But

the Y. M. C. A. authorities are anxious to

have every hut, barn, cellar and dug-out

that they have, suggest tlioughts of home

to the men who are using them. They

want to have good pictures in their "Quiet

Rooms," knowing the silent ministry of

such furnishings upon all who spend a few

minutes there in reading or meditation.

They would also like to have pictures to

give the men to put up in their own billets,

messes and dug-outs.

In their printed appea.l for support of

this special work, the Y. M. C. A. says

that: "The display of crude or objection-

able pictures has increased of late, chiefly

because in many places there is little or

nothing else to be had. If you could spend

a single day amidst the desolation and

monotony of a modern battlefield, or out

in the wastes of sand where our armies

are to be found in Egypt or Mesopotamia,

you would understand why any bit of

color, anything with human life in it, is

so eagerly seized upon by a soldier. It

keeps his imagination alive. He finds it a

refuge from sheer mental and spiritual

shipwreck. That is another reason why

we should send him the best, and plenty

of it. We are making a great effort to

send out at least twenty or thirty cartoons,

color prints, black-and-white drawings,

and half-tone reproductions for the deco-

ration of each center where we are at

work. We hope also for a large reserve

from which to supply every man who

would like a picture or two for himself.

The Challenge newspaper has for some

time been attempting to meet this demand

thru the Chaplain's department and will

continue to do so. We are working in

close touch, especially as regards the pur-

chasing of prints."

Artists, curators of art galleries, heads

of picture-publishing firms, editors and

proprietors of popular illustrated week-

lies, chiefs of the poster departments of

railways and shipping lines, and many

friends in various walks of life are co-

operating with the Y. M. C. A. authorities.

But the .leaders are asking those interested

to organize a collection among their per-

sonal friends or get together an influential

group of people for a thoro canvass of their

locality. They have been offered greatly

reduced rates by firms in the trade, and

are therefore able to spend money to much

greater advantage than the private pur-

chaser. It is estimated that it will cost

about £4 to furnish a hut with suitable

pictures. Unframed pictures are best, and

colored ones are preferred to black and

white, tho both are needed. Before send-

ing in prints, it is requested that a list of

those proposed for sending be submitted

so that the authorities can see whether

they are suitable or not.



23

The regular sets of pictures that are

being sent out include drawings of ani-

mals, coaching and hunting scenes, garden,

woodland, countryside, seascape and land-

scape drawings, figure studies, heads,

studies of children, series of famous gal-

lery pictures, humorous prints, Peter Pan,Pickwick scenes, Harrison Fisher prints,

The Hundred Best Pictures, and other

portfolios. Good pictures from the art

monthlies, and supplements to Christmas

numbers of well-known periodicals are

acceptable. Small pictures are useful for

dug-outs and billets while larger ones

serve for huts and "Quiet Rooms."

Classical or modern pictures on religious

subjects are much in demand. "In fact,"

ends the appeal, "we need everything that

is really good of its kind and that will re-

mind men of the home and the homeland

(whether Britain or the Dominions), of

the ideals and traditions inseparable from

our nation and its history, of chivalry and

religiousi devotion, and certainly every-

thing that will bring a smile to their faces

and wholesome laughter to their lips."

Mr. C. Lewis Hind, the art' critic, in his

book "The soldier boy'' gives an incident

which demonstrates the eloquence and in-

spiration of a good picture. A young mu-

sician, now a flight sub-lieutenant in the

Royal Navy, is described as at home on

leave, sitting in his London study, gazing

at a large photograph of Rembrandt's "Pol-

ish rider"—

"that unforgettable picture, a

warrior riding forth thru a romantic land-

scape, but the mission of this rider is born

of the spirit, not of the flesh : he rides forth

for right, not for might." "That picturesustains me," said the musician-soldier.

"I return here for another look at it. Its

message cannot fade. This war has taught

me that a picture can have the essence of

immortality and can help us to see light

beyond the blackness of the moment."

Mr. Hind writes of another soldier whowould willingly have been a preacher-

painter, but who had no talent. He had

made a laborious copy of Sic transit gloria

mundi by Watts, and when chided for

cherishing so sad a theme he said "That

picture is a reminder to me of the Undy-

ing Things." He, himself died later a

gallant death for his country. When Hind

went to pay a visit of condolence to the

lad's mother he visited the studio alone.

Looking at the shrouded figure of the dead

warrior in Watt's picture he thought of his

friend beneath French soil. Death

seemed hateful; life but a horrid game ofchance. In the gathering twilight the gray

picture grew grayer. "Why did he like

it?" he murmured. From the presence at

his side, felt rather than seen, came the

answer : "Read the painted words above

the warrior"

What I spent I hadWhat I saved I lost

What I gave I have.

To those who have not looked into the

matter, poetry would seem to have as little

place at the front as pictures. But in the

New Republic for November 25, 1916,

James Norman Hall writes of "Poetry

Under the Fire Test" and in this connection

recounts certain experiences of an old

classmate of his, Mason by name, who had

joined the British Army and had gone to

the front.

Mason tells of his return to the first line

about two o'clock in the morning of a

rainy autumn day. His way led him thru

an old communication trench nearly a foot

deep in water. He fell into a short sap

leading off from the trench. It looked like

the entrance to a dug-out. Between the

shell explosions he heard voices. Pausing

or a moment to listen he discovered that

some one was reading aloud. These werethe words

Before the starrythreshold of Jove's courtMy mansion is, where those immortal shapes

Of bright aerial spirits live inspheredIn regions mild, of calm and serene air;

Above tlie smoke and stir of this dim spot

Which men call earth, and with low-thoughtedcare.

Confined and pestered in this pinfold here,

Strive to keep up a frail and feverish beingUnmindful of the crown which virtue gives

After this mortal change, to her true servants

Among the enthroned gods on sainted seats.

Poetry ! "Comus" ! At such an hour

and under such conditions ! Mason con-

fessed that the circumstance so affected

him that he began to cry like a baby. But

in his own words: "I cried for pure joy.



24

You say that you would want to forget

that there was such a thing as beauty in

the world. Well, I had forgotten. Myold life before the war was like a cast-ofif

garment which I had forgotten that I had

ever owned. The life of soldiering, of

killing and being killed, of diggingtrenches and graves, seemed to have been

going on forever. Then, in a moment

how is one to tell of such an awakening?

I felt as the ancient mariner must have

felt when the body of the albatross slipped

from his neck and fell—how does it go?

'like lead into the sea.' What I am trying

to make clear to you is this: without

realizing it, I had lost my belief in all

beauty. During all those months I was

vaguely aware of the lack of something,

but I didn't know what it was. It is im-

possible to think of that time without a

shudder.

"This adventure marked the beginning

of what I think I may call a new epoch in

my trench experiences. The seasons of

fearful depression which I used to have

were past and gone, altho the life was just

as wretched as before. At night, as I

stoodon

sentry, I

wouldrecall the

frag-ments of poems I knew in old days. I

wrote immediately to friends in London,

who prepared for me a little trench an-

thology of the poems I liked best. Youhave no idea what a comfort they have

been. I've put them thru the fire test, and

tbey have withstood it splendidly."

Hall expressed an interest as to the

selection, and his friend handed him a

booklet in soiled paper covers. Loose

leaves from books of various sizes hadbeen sewn together into a little volume

which went easily into the pocket of the

soldier's tunic. Among others there were

"Kubla Khan," "Comus," "The Ode on

the Intimations of Immortality," all of

Keats's odes and "The eve of St. Agnes,"

Shelley's "Alastor," Henley's "London vol-

untaries," and some selections from the

nineteenth century sonnets edited by

William Sharp. Hall expressed surprise

at seeing several poems by Francis Thomp-

son, whom he had never thought of as a

soldier's poet, and he asked his friend whyhe was included. By way of answer Mason

took the volume and read the first stanza

of "The Poppy."

Heaven set lip to earth's bosom bare

And left the flushed print in a poppy, there.

Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came

And the hot wind fanned it to flapping flame.

"Wehave no need of war verse in the

trenches," said Mason. "What we do need

is something which will take our minds off

the horrors of modern warfare, after the

strain is relaxed."

"Do you mean to say that all of you

fellows out there are finding solace in

poetry?"

"Certainly not. I merely give you my

own experience. But you would be sur-

prised if you knew how many other men

do find it essential. Since that night in

the communication trench I've been

making inquiries, very cautiously of

course, for it would never do to let some

of the men know that one has such

aesthetic tastes. Recently, I met a ser-

geant major whose experience, slight as

it was, bears out splendidly this one of

mine. Once, he said, when he believed

that he was on the point of a nervous

break-down, he remembered suddenly two

lines from Shakespeare

Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund Day

Stands tiptoe on the misty Tnountain tops.

"I may have quoted incorrectly, altho I

think I have it straight. The effect upon

him, he said, was really miraculous. His

battalion had been in tbe first line con-

tinuously, for two weeks, and had suffered

heavy casualties. At night every sandbag

in the parapet had appeared to be a dis-

torted human countenance. The men whoare killed in the trench are placed on the

parapets, you know, until there is an op-

portunity to bury them. He was in a

bad way, but those two lines saved him.

They called to his mind a picture of some

place which he was sure that he had never

seen, but one of such great beauty that he

forgot the horrors of the trenches. They

became a talisman to him, offering just

the relief he needed in times of great

mental strain. Another fellow, a man of

my own company, found this relief by re-

peating Hood's sonnet on Silence. You

remember it?



25

There is a silence where hath been no sound,

There is a silence where no sound may be;

In the cold grave, under the deep, deep sea,

Or in wide desert where no life is found.

"It's one of the finest sonnets in the

language, to my way of thinking; but im-

agine a soldier repeating those lines to

himself, under shell fire! Odd, isn't it?"

"Odd? That' is hardly the word. If

anyone but you had told me of it, I should

have said it was extremely improbable."

"My dear fellow, that is simply because

you have never had occasion to put poetry

to the test of fire. Come out and join us !

It is worth all the hazards to discover for

one's self that Beauty is Truth, Truth

Beauty. Yes," he added, "by Jove ! it is

worth it!"

As further evidence that poetry has stood

the fire test let me quote a few passages

from Lieutenant Gillespie's "Letters from

Flanders," referred to more fully in another

section of this paper. In one of his letters

home he speaks of "a famous epitaph of

Plato on a friend who died young, which

plays on the contrast between the morning

and the evening star. Shelley has trans-

lated it, so far as I can remember

Thou wast the morning star among theliving

Ere thy pure light had fled,

Now thou art gone, thou art as Hesperus

giving

New Splendour to the dead.

but the Greek is simpler and better."

On the eve of the attack in which Gil-

lespie was killed he wrote his father a long

letter ending thus: "It will be a great fight,

and even when I think of you, I would not

wish to be out of this. You remember

Wordsworth's 'Happy Warrior'

Who if he be called upon to face

Some awful moment to which heaven has

joined

Great issues, good or bad, for human kind,

Is happy as a lover, and is attired.

With sudden brightness like a man inspired.

"I never could be all that a happy warrior

should be, but it will please you to knowthat I am very happy, and whatever hap-

pens, you will remember that."

7. LETTERS FROM THE FRONTWagstaffe in Ian Hay's "First Hundred

Thousand" looks over the list of Bobby's

outfit and says "If you find you still have

a pound or so in hand, add a few books

something to fall back on, in case supplies

fail. Personally, I'm taking 'Vanity Fair'

and 'Pickwick.' But then, I'm old-

fashioned."

The varying literary tastes of the men

at the front are brought out by H. G.

Wells in "Mr. Britling." Hugh writes to

his father about life in the trenches

"We read, of course. But there never

could be a library here big enough to keep us

going. We can do with all sorts of books,

but I don't think the ordinary sensational

novel is quite the catch it was for a lot of

them in peace time. Some break towards

serious reading in the oddest fashion. OldPark, for example, says he wants books youcan chew; he is reading a cheap edition of

'The origin of species.' He used to regard

Florence Warden and William Le Queux as

the supreme delights of print. I wish youcould send him Metchnikotf's 'Nature of Man'or Pearson's 'Ethics of Free Thought' I feel

I am building up his tender mind. Not for

me tho. Daddy. Nothing of that sort for me.

These things take people differently. What I

want here is literary opium. I want some-

thing about fauns and nymphs in broad low

glades. I would like to read Spenser's

"Faerie Queene.' I don't think I have read it,

and yet I have a very distinct impression of

knights and dragons and sorcerers and wicked

magic ladies moving thru a sort of Pre-

Raphaelite tapestry scenery—only with a light

on them. I could do with some Hewlett of

the 'Forest Lovers' kind. Or with Joseph Con-

rad in his Kew Palm-house mood. And there

is a book. I once looked into it at a man's

room in London ; I don't know the title, but

it was by Richard Garnett, and it was all

about gods who were in reduced circumstances

but amidst sunny picturesque scenery—scenery

without steel, or poles, or wire—a thing af-

ter the manner of Heine's 'Florentine Nights.'

Any book about Greek gods would be wel-

come, anything about temples of ivory-coloredstone and purple seas, red caps, chests of

jewels, and lizards in the sun. I wish there

was another 'Thais.' The men here are get-

ting a kind of newspaper sheet of literature

scraps called The Times Broadsheets. Snip-

pets, but mostly from good stuff. They're

small enough to stir the appetite, but not to

satisfy it. Rather an irritant—and one wants

no irritant. I used to imagine reading wasmeant to be a stimulant. Out here it has to

be an anodyne."

The general tenor of this fictitious letter

is supported by the real letters of an

American member of the Foreign Legion

Henry Weston Farnsworth, who died from

wounds received in battle, September,



26

igiS- He wrote to his father that he had

not yet finished Cramb, but could see how

well written it was. "I don't see why it

makes the Germans any more understand-

able to you. It, as far as I have gone,

draws them as maddened and blinded by

jealousy. I wish Cramb could have lived

to read how the English and French are

fighting."

To his brother he confided: "Warmthings are nice to have and books are

interesting to read, that is granted. But

if you come in from four hours' sentinel

duty in a freezing rain, with mud up to

your ankles, you do not want to change

your socks (you go out again in an hour)

and read a book on German thought. You

want a smoke and a drink of hot rum.I say this because several times I have

been notified that there were packages for

me at the paymaster's office. To go there

hoping for such things, and receive a dry

book and a clean pair of socks has been

known to raise the most dreadful pro-

fanity. Don't dwell on this. It's only

amusmg at bottom." He says that "the

only kick he has about mail" is that Life

which he had much enjoyed, had stopped

coming. He read Charles Lamb, "Pick-

wick," Plutarch, a deal of cheap French

novels, and "War and Peace" over again,

which he hopes his mother will re-read. In

his opinion, Tolstoi, even more than Stend-

hal arrives at complete expression of mil-

itary life. He asks his people to send him

from time to time any novel, either in

French or English, that they may find

interesting. "Books are too heavy to

carry when on the move.The

state of the

German mind, Plato, or Kant, are not nec-

essary for the moment, and I have read

Milton, Shakespeare, and Dante." In one

letter, written as they were momentarily

expecting to be called into action, he notes

that his friend is very calm, and is reading

the Weekly Times, including the adver-

tisements.

Another Legionnaire and contemporary

of Farnsworth at Harvard, Victor Chap-

man, tho not essentially a bookish man, hasleft in his letters* evidence of the effect

• Victor Chapman's letters from France.; withmemoir by John Jay Chapman. New York: Mac-millan, 1917.

that reading had on him while serving in

the American Aviation Corps. Under date

of May 14, 1915, he writes: "After twen-

ty minutes the shooting lessened and weturned to other things—I to reading Lamb,

whom I found tedious till I hit the Dis-

sertation on Roast Pig." A few days later

he "attacked the 'Autocrat'," but felt he

had to read such a lot to get a little nutri-

tion that he thought it hardly worth while.

A fellow Legionnaire says that Chapman

"received almost all the Paris newspapers

and magazines, not to speak of novels and

volumes of poetry. One day he also re-

ceived a book from America. Chapman

undid the parcel, and buried himself in

his cabin; when he came out some hours

later he was joyful, exuberant; he hadread at a sitting the anti-German book

that his father had published in New York

to enlighten those fellows over there."

The book was the one entitled "Deutsch-

land iiber Allies" ; or "Germany Speaks" ; a

collection of the utterances of representa-

tive Germans in defense of the war policies

of the Fatherland" (New York, Putnam's,

1914).

He tells his father that he thinks the

book capital, that he "had seen one or twoof those fool remarks, but not by any means

the greater part. I hope it sells, for it

shows up their craziness so wonderfully

well. I have been reading my Galsworthy

again; a collection of English verse by a

Frenchman, bad as a selection of verse, but

still interesting; a short story by Alfred de

Vigny, and your Homeric Scenes. Strange

and violent ends some of the books of Frise

have come to. Outside our cabin door I

found, for cleaning the gamelles, the pages

of the Swiss Family Robinson in French;

while yesterday, before another cabin, I

found pages of Quentin Durward, also in

French. British authors are not the only

sufferers, however. The third volume, yet

intact, except the back cover, of the Medita-

tions of St. Ignatius is placed over the

stove for lighting the pipes."

In other letters he reports a total relaxa-

tion from war and the like by reviewing the

Harvard Dental School requirements for

admission and talking over examinations

with a comrade who thought of taking up

dentistry when he was thru with aviation.



27

He says that he reHshes the New York

Tribunes which were being sent him fre-

quently, adding that they kept him a bit in

touch with America, even tho they were

three weeks old when they arrived.

Personal narratives of the great war are

rapidly increasing in number. Among those

most interesting in connection with ourpresent theme are "Letters from Flanders,

written by 2nd Lieut. A. D. Gillespie,

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, to his

home people" (London, Smith, Elder &

Co. 1916). Gillespie was a Winchester

College and Oxford University man who

was studying law at the Inns of Court when

he enlisted in August, 1914.

He writes that between eating, sleeping

and writing he can't find much time to read,

but he manages in the first months of his

service to get thru Dante's Inferno, and

asks that his copy of Paradise Lost be sent

him from home, together with Scott's

"Bride of LammeTmoor" or any other

Scott in a cheap edition—

"in fact anything

solid, for I don't think sixpenny novels

would go down so well at present.

A Sphere or an Illustrated [London News]

would be interesting to me, and to the men

afterwards. ... I have got H. S.

Merriman's 'Velvet glove' to read, but so

far I seem to have been busy digging, eating

or sleeping. . . . [Merriman] doesn't

perhaps go very deep, but he can tell a rat-

tling good story, which many of those mod-

ern psychological novelists, with their elab-

orate analysis of character and of sensa-

tion, quite fail to do. . . . Merriman

talks of the 'siren sound of the bullet, a

sound which the men, when they have once

heard it, cannot live without ;' but I don't

think I shall want you to fire volleys under

my window to put me to sleep when I get

home.

"I wanted to get some French newspapers,

but I could only find an old Matin, with noth-

ing in it except translations from the London

papers . . .

"I got hold of a German paper yesterday;

it had a short account of a football match in

Berlin, so did a French paper of one in Paris

the other day. But what interested me was to

notice that they gave very fairly and accurate-

ly the British Admiralty's report of one day^soperations in the Dardanelles, except that they

multiplied the number of our dead by four. I

know this because I happened to have no-

ticed the figures ; and so had another subal-

tern. That is just typical of their system in all

their reports. They tell as much truth as they

think necessary to hide their lies—or, rather,

tell as many lies as they think their public can

reasonably swallow. . . .

"I have got hold of a book of Tolstoi's

stories. There's something very charming

about them, they are so direct and simple ; and

in the same book one has sketches of Sevas-

topol during the siege,—curious reading just

now, when we are doing our best to give the

Russians what we fought to prevent them get-

ting sixty years ago. I once read them before

in French, and I think I'm right in saying

that he doesn't mention the British once—it's

always the French, and yet we all have the

habit of thinking that we did all the fighting

in the Crimea."

At another time he writes

"I wish you would give me as a birthday

present. Gibbon in Everyman's. Send out a

couple of volumes at a time ; then I can get

rid of them as I read them. For even though

it takes time and men and ships to force the

Dardanelles, I think the story of Constanti-

nople will be taken up again where it was left

in 1455-

"The Sphere never comes now. I don't

mind for myself, because I always see it in

the mess, but if you are ordering it, it ought

to come, and the men might like to see it.

Send me on two copies of Forbes-Mitchell's

'Reminiscences of the Indian Mutiny,' (Mac-

millan's one shilling series). He was a ser-

geant in the 93rd, and I remember that at Sun-

derland two copies which I gave my platoon

were very popular. . . . And if you will

give it to me for a birthday present, I should

like to read a book which has just come out,

'Ordeal by battle,' by F. S. Oliver ; he used to

write a good deal for the Round Table,

which, by the way, I have not seen lately.

Send me the current number and others as

they come out ... I used to take it regu-

larly, but I'm afraid I have missed several

quarters since last August."

The anonymous "Letters of a soldier,

1914-1915." written by a French artist

to his mother, and translated by "V. M."

(London, Constable, 1917) are full of

references to the influence of books and

reading on his cultivated mind. The fol-

lowing extracts show how he at least car-

ried out the injunction of an eminent

French military authority, Colonel Emile

Manceau, who at the very height of hostil-

ities said : "Let us read, let us give much

time to reading."

Aug. 6, 1914. What we miss is news; thereare no longer any papers to be had in this

town.

Aug 26. I was made happy by Maurice

Barres's fine article, "I'Aigle et le Rossignol."



which corresponds in every detail with what

I feel.

Oct. 23. I have re-read Barres's article,

"I'Aiglc et Ic Rossignol." It is still as beau-

tiful, but it no longer seems in complete har-

mony.

Oct. 28. I am glad that you have read

Tolstoi: he also took part in war. He judged

it; he acceptedits

teaching. If youcan

glance at the admirable "War and Peace,"

you will find pictures that our situation re-

calls. It will make you understand the liberty

for meditation that is possible to a soldier

who desires it.

Sept. 2T. To sleep in a ditch full of water

has no equivalent in Dante, but what must

be said of the awakening, when one must

watch for the moment to kill or be killed!

Jan. 13, 1915. I did not tell you enough

what pleasure the Revues hcbdotiiadaircs

gave me. I found some extracts from that

speech on Lamartine which I am passionately

fond of. Circumstances led this poet to give

to his art only the lowest place. Life in gen-

eral closed him round, imposing on his great

heart a more serious and immediate task than

that which awaited his genius.

Jan. 17. What surpasses our understand-

ing (and yet what is only natural) is that

civilians are able to continue their normal

life while we are in torment. I saw in the

Cri de Paris, which drifted as far as here,

a list of concert programmes. What a con-

trast! However, mother dear, the essential

thing is to have known beauty in moments

of grace.

Jan. ig. I have received two parcels ; the

"Chanson dc Roland" gives me infinite

pleasure—particularly the Introduction, treat-

ing of the national epic and of the Mahab-harata which, it seems, tells of the fight be-

tween the spirits of good and evil.

Feb. 2. I am delighted by the Reviews.

In an admirable article on Louis Veuillot I

noticed this phrase : "O my God, take awaymy despair and leave my grief !" Yes, wemust not misunderstand the fruitful lesson

taught by grief, and if I return from this warit will most certainly be with a soul formed

and enriched.

I also read with pleasure the lectures on

MoHere, and in him, as elsewhere, I have

viewed again the solitude in which the high-

est souls wander. But I owe it to my old

sentimental wounds never to suffer again thru

the acts of others.

Feb. 4. Dear, I was reflecting on Tolstoi's

title "War and Peace." I used to think that

he wanted to express the antithesis of these

two states, but now I ask myself if he did not

connect these two contraries in one and thesame folly—if the fortunes of humanity,

whether at war or at peace, were not equally

a burden to his mind.

Feb. 6. Mother dear, I am living over

;igain the lovely legend of Sarpedon ; and that

exquisite flower of Greek poetry really gives

me comfort. If you will read this passage

of the Iliad in my beautiful translation by

Lecomte de I'lsle, you will see that Zeus ut-

ters in regard to destiny certain words in

which the divine and the eternal shine out as

nobly as in the Christian Passion. He suf-

fers, and his fatherly heart undergoes a long

battle, but finally he permits his son to die

and Hypnos and Thanatos are sent to gather

up the beloved remains.

Hypnos—that is Sleep. To think that I

should come to that, I for whom every wak-

ing hour was a waking joy, I for whom every

moment was a thrill of pride. I catch myself

longing for the escape of Sleep from the

tumult that besets me. But the splendid

Greek optimism shines out as in those vases

at the Louvre. By the two, Hypnos and

Thanatos, Sarpedon is lifted to a life beyond

his human death ; and assuredly Sleep and

Death do wonderfully magnify and continue

our mortal fate.

Thanatos—that is a mystery, and it is a

terror only because the urgency of our tran-

sitory desires makes us misconceive the

mystery. But read over again the great peace-

ful words of Maeterlinck in his book on

death, words ringing with compassion for

our fears in the tremendous passage of

mortality.

March 3. I have been stupefied by the noise

of the shells. Think—from the French side

alone forty thousand have passed over our

heads, and from the German side about as

many, with this difference, that the enemyshells burst right upon us. For my own part,

I was buried by three 305 shells at once, to

say nothing of the innumerable shrapnel going

off close by. You may gather that m}' brain

was a good deal shaken. And now I amreading. I have just read in a magazine an

article on three new novels, and that reading

relieved many of the cares of battle.

March 11. I have nothing to say about mylife, which is filled up with manual labor. At

moments perhaps some image appears, some

memory rises. I have just read a fine article by

Renan on the origins of the Bible. I foundit in a Revue dcs deux mondes of 1886. If

later I can remember something of it, I maybe able to put my very scattered notions on

that matter into better order.

March 17. The other day, reading an old

Revue des deux mondes of 1880, I came upon

an excellent article as one might come upon a

noble palace with vaulted roof and decorated

walls. It was on Egypt, and was signed

Georges Perrot.

8. THE BIBLE IN THE TRENCHES

Living his uneventfullife

beforethe war,

the average Englishman, says Donald

Hankey, could hardly be said to possess

a philosophy at all, but rather a code of

honor and morals, based partly on tradition



29

and partly on his own observation of the

law of cause and effect in the lives of his

associates. When war came and he found

himself in the ranks, he discovered that his

easy-going philosophy did not quite fit in

with the new demands made on him. So

he had to try and think things out. But

this

was by nomeans easy.

Hehad read

very little that was of any help to him now.

He could remember nothing but a few

phrases from the Bible, some verses from

Omar Khayyam, and a sentence or two

from the Latin Syntax. But when he found

himself in a support trench, heavily shelled

by the enemy, Omar, who had lived before

the day of high explosives, was of little

comfort, and "it didn't seem quite playing

the game" to turn to the Bible now after

having neglected it so long. Though hecould not have defined his attitude of mind,

he wavered between fatalism and the gos-

pel of the "will to prevail" and was near to

becoming a disciple of Nietzsche.

The American Bible Society, which has

had experience in war-time distribution of

the Bible, in the Mexican War, the Civil

War, the Russo-Japanese War, the Spanish-

.\merican War. and in the recent disturb-

ances on the Mexican border, is now hard

at work supplying the troops of to-day.

From May to Sept. 15, 1917, the Society

issued 650,000 copies for the use of Ameri-

can soldiers and sailors. Most of these

have been Testaments and single books, or

"portions" as they call them, meaning

nothing less than one whole book of the

Bible. The society has orders for 150,000

more Bibles, Testaments and portions,

which are being issued as rapidly as pos-

sible. The two chief problems before the

society are to secure the necessary funds

and to meet the growing demand. There

is a rush of orders from many widely dif-

ferent sources. The society's presses have

been running for weeks up to two o'clock

at night.

The copies already issued have gone put

to the troops, first of all thru the nine home

agencies of the society, most of which have

made special efforts to distribute them.

Next they have used auxiliary societies,

such as the Massachusetts and the Mary-

land Bible Societies. Then the Y. M. C. A.,

with whom the society has an understand-

ing, drew very largely upon its resources.

The society has recently agreed to furnish

the National War Council of the Y. M. C.

A. one million Testaments and has signed

contracts with responsible firms for the

manufacture of these books. They are to

be delivered to the Y. M. C. A. free of all

cost on condition that they will be circulat-

ed judiciously among the soldiers and sail-

ors. As the reserve funds of the society

are exhausted, it must now raise more

money by a special campaign, in order to

cover the cost of the books already issued,

and make further provision for future is-

sues if the war continues for a long period.

The society appeals for at least $400,000

for these purposes.

The directors of the society feel that

every enlisted man in the Army or Navy

ought to have a Testament, or a Gospel, or

a whole Bible for his own use. Some of

the men are glad to get them and willing

to pay for them, but to others they must be

given free. It is felt that the best way to

give a soldier a Bible or a Testament is to

have it come from the people in his ownhome, his own town, or his own church.

They should see that he gets one before he

leaves. The society has worked thru these

channels, and so has supplied a large num-

ber of individuals, churches, Sunday schools

and local organizations. The Northeastern

Department of the Society's Atlantic Agen-

cy in Pennsylvania secured $400 from the

churches of Scranton with which to buy

Bibles for the soldiers going from that city

and region. For the special use of the

Maryland troops, the Maryland Bible So-

ciety ordered 10,000 copies of the Scrip-

tures with a letter inserted from President

Wilson, written at the request of Dr.

Goucher, president of the Maryland Bible

Society. The Massachusetts Society has

had a letter from the governor of the slate

inserted in its books and the New York

Bible Society, operating in New York City,

has distributed 25,000 Testaments and por-

tions, with a similar letter from Colonel

Roosevelt inserted. The New York Society

also issues a leaflet containing messages

from a score of eminent men, including

Governor Whitman, General Leonard

Wood, Rear-Admiral Usher, commending

the distribution.

This is President Wilson's admonition to

the men of the Arm.y and Navy:



30

"The Bible is the Word of Life. I beg

that you will read it and find this out for

yourselves—read, not little snatches here

and there, but long passages that will really

be the road to the heart of it.

"You will not only find it full of real men

and women, but also of things you have

wondered about and been troubled about all

your life, as men have been always, and

the more you read the more it will become

plain to you what things are worth while

and what are not ; what things make men

happy—loyalty, right dealings, speaking the

truth, readiness to give everything for what

they think their duty, and, most of all, the

wish that they may have the real approval

of the Christ, who gave everything for

them; and the things that are guaranteed

to make men unhappy—selfishness, coward-

ice, greed, and everything that is low and

mean.

"When you have read the Bible you will

know that it is the Word of God, because

you will have found it the key to your own

heart, your own happiness, and your own

duty."

A representative of the Methodist Epis-

copal Church Mission in France reports

that one day he went to see a poor, un-

fortunate soldier in jail and left with him

a New Testament. The following week he

went again to see him. He was asked for

copies for the other prisoners, and a Bible

for the guard. "It was really impressive,"

the pastor writes, "to see that poor fellow

behind the iron gate smiling to me and

sending me greetings of thanks and grati-

tude."

Among the negroes employed there, says

the same pastor, was one who already knew

a little of the New Testament. On Easter

Monday he was seen crying like a child.

He had in his hand the book which had

been given him and a letter.

"What have you got, my lad?" asked the

pastor.

"I heard wife dead in Madagascar, and

me read the New Testament."

Another negro from New Caledonia,

wrote

I

ask you for some more many copies ofthe Gospel for comrades, and one Saint

Mathieu for me. Me doing well,—and you,

my pastor, and your son, and your daughter.

I am your son who loves you.

Danis.

A pastor who always carries with him a

few Testaments for distribution, gave one

to a young soldier. Months later the pastor

was visiting a hospital and was accosted by

this same soldier, who, coming up, grasped

him by the hand most cordially and said:

"You do not know me, do you? But I

remember you. In fact I shall never forget

you. I owe you a debt I can never repay.

You remember that some months ago you

were distributing New Testaments at the

station of X , and you gave me one.

I put it in my bag, and when I got out to

the front, in the midst of the awful scenes

of destruction, facing danger and death,

when one did not know what the moment

would bring, I found time to read the little

book you gave me. I am a changed man.

And it is your little book that has done it.

I do not know how I can ever thank you

enough!"

A soldier of the Second Pennsylvania

Infantry said to his chaplain : "This is not

the kind of Bible I wanted." When asked

what kind he did want, he replied : "I want

an Old Testament with the Lord's Prayer

in it." The chaplain told him that it had

not yet been published. The soldier said

he thought that was what he wanted. "At

least, I want the part of the Bible that I

can read every day." When the chaplain

told him that he could read any part of it

daily, the soldier was not satisfied. He said,

"My mother used to read me one part of

the Bible every day and that is what I

want." The chaplain then began quoting

the 23d Psalm. "That's it. That's what I

want," he cried.

Certainly in the wars of old the thunder

of the Psalms was an antidote for the

thunder of battle. In the Crusades, there

were but few battles against the Saracens

in which there was not sung the Venite

of the 95th Psalm, the battle cry of the

Templars.

In 1380, when the Tartar hordes were

advancing on Moscow, Demetrius, Grand

Prince of Russia, advanced to meet the in-

vaders on the banks of the Don. After

reading the 46th Psalm, "God is our refuge

andstrength,"

he plungedinto the fight

which ended in the defeat of the Tartars.

The Psalms were the war-shout of John

Sobieski. From them the Great Armada

took its motto. They were the watchwords



31

of Gustavus Adolphus and Cromwell, the

battle hymn of the Huguenots and the

Cevennois.

At the battle of Courtrai in 1587 the

Huguenots chanted the 24th and 25th verses

of the ii8th Psalm. "The cowards are

afraid," cried a young courtier to the Due

de Joyeuse, who commanded the RomanCatholics; "they are confessing them-

selves." "Sire," said a scarred veteran,

"when the Huguenots behave thus, they

are ready to fight to the death."

In Great Britain's Civil War the begin-

ning of a battle was frequently heralded by

the singing of Psalms. This was true of

the Battle of Marston Moor. As his troop-

ers bore the body of John Hampden to his

grave, they chanted the 90th Psalm, which

since 1662 has had its place in the burial

service of the Prayer Book.

The Psalms were the battle cry of the

Huguenots in 1704 when Cavalier won a

brilliant victory. It was with the singing

of the 48th Psalm that Roland, one of the

Camisard leaders, routed the Royalists at

the Bridge of Salindres in 1709.

Reading and believing as did these war-

riors of old, produced men of the type of

Sir Richard Grenville, who, with his hun-

dred men and his little forty-ton frigate,

fought against fifty-three Spanish ships of

war manned with ten thousand men. Sir

Richard's last words have been lovingly pre-

served for us by Sir Walter Raleigh

"Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a

joyful and quiet mind, for that I have

ended my life as a true soldier ought to

do, that hath fought for his country, queen,

religion, and honor. Whereby my soul

most joyfully departeth out of this body,

and shall always leave behind it an ever-

lasting fame of a valiant and true soldier

that hath done his duty as he was bound

to do."



:^08f,79

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

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